Garment presser



1951 M M BERGER GARMENT PRESSER Filed April 15, 1949 Patented July 17, 1951 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 4 Claims. 1

This invention relates to garment pressers and more particularly to a garment presser for preparing the body portion of a suit of coveralls or overalls.

The principal object of the invention is the provision of a garment presser for peparing the body portion of overalls or coveralls.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a garment presser which may be easily operated to automatically position, press and deliver a garment.

A still further object of the invention is the provision of a garment Dresser incorporating means for automatically adjusting the pressing elements to the size of the garment being pressed.

A still further object of the invention is the provision of a simple and efficient garment presser which may be inexpensively constructed and which is capable of repeated operation with a minimum of attention.

The garment presser shown and described herein has been designed particularly for pressing the body portion of coveralls, overalls, work jackets and the like such as commonly handled by commercial laundries in connection with laundering and pressing various workmans attire. The practice heretofore in such laundries has been to press the arms and legs of the coveralls or overalls on special devices insertable in the arms and legs and expansible to press the same uniformly. The body portions of the garments have then been pressed by hand operations on conventional pressing machines usually of the flat bed type. This necessitates a number of operations per garment in pressing the same which. increases the processing time of the garment as well as the cost thereof.

The present invention relates to a device which will receive the body portion of the garment to be pressed; for example, a coverall, overall or uniform jacket, which will then move the same into position between a pair of pressing members at least one of which is movably mounted and which then move into engagement with the garment and press the same. The form on which the garment is positioned is relatively elastic and/or expansible in controlled degree so that the same automatically fills out the garment being pressed regardless of its size. The garment is then easily finished by subjecting the same to the arm and leg pressing operation which eliminates all hand work on the garment and enables the same to be processed rapidly and economically.

With the foregoing and other objects in view which will appear as the description proceeds, the invention resides in the combination and arrangement of parts and in the details of construction hereinafter described and claimed, it being understood that changes in the precise embodiment of the invention herein disclosed can be made within the scope of what is claimed without departing from the spirit of the invention.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, wherein Figure 1 is a front view of the garment presser.

Figure 2 is a side view of the garment presser with parts broken away.

Figure 3 is a vertical section taken on line 3-3 of Figure 2.

By referring to the drawings and Figures 1 and 2 in particular it will be seen that the garment presser comprises a vertical framework I!) having a pair of pressing plates I l and I2 positioned vertically therein and at the sides thereof and spaced with respect to one another. The pressing plate 12 is mounted for horizontal movement as by a plurality of tubular guides 13-43 and an energized hydraulic piston and cylinder assembly [4. The pressing plate I2 is provided with a plurality of horizontally extending arms I5I5 which register with the tubular guides 13 and thereby support the pressing plate [2 and a piston rod I6 of the piston and cylinder assembly I4 is connected to the pressing plate I2 so that j the same may be moved thereby.

The pressing plate II is illustrated as being fixed to the framework In in spaced relation to the movable pressing plate l2 but may obviously be formed as a movable member by duplicating the mechanism supporting and moving the movable presser plate 12, if desired.

An expansible form I! is loosely suspended from a traveler l8 which in turn is provided with rollers 19 engaging tracks 20 in a beam 2 I pivotally mounted in the uppermost portion of the framework I0 and between the spaced side portions thereof, as best shown in Figure 1 of the drawings, the beam 2| being pivotally mounted by a transverse pivot 22 and having a rearwardly extending portion 23 which is provided with a counterweight 24. A stop member 25 is positioned near the foremost end of the beam 2| so that the traveler I8 is limited in its travel on the beam 2| between the stop 25 and the pivot 22.

By referring to Figure 2 of the drawings it will be seen that when the traveler carrying the expansible form H is in position adjacent the pivot pin 22, the expansible form I! is disposed 3 between the pressing plates I I and I2. When the traveler is adjacent the stop member 25, the expansible form I! is in position in front of the machine and substantially away therefrom so that a garment may be readily positioned thereon or removed therefrom.

Still referring to Figure 2 of the drawings it will be observed that a control for the beam 2| is disclosed and comprises a flexible cable 26 which is extended to a desirable location and provided with a pedal 21 whereby the operator of the device may tilt the beam 2| upwardly or downwardly so that the traveler I8 will move into or out of the area of the pressing plates II and I2. It will be observed that the expansible form I! is loosely pivoted to the traveler I8 as by longitudinal and transverse pivots 28 so that the tilting of the beam 2i will not tilt the expansible form 11.

.By referring to Figure 3 of the drawings a ver; tical section of the expansible form ll may be seen and it comprises a rubber-like envelope 29 having a plurality of flexible cross pieces 39 therein and limiting the thickness of the expansible form I! to that desired. The flexible cross pieces 30 are also secured to a vertical support 3| which extends vertically through the device and which is pivoted to the traveler I8. The expansible form I? is thereby rendered capable of expanding sidewardly, as shown in Figure l of the drawings, so as to increase its effective width but it is rendered incapable of expanding to increase its effective thickness. The form is preferably inflated and for this purpose a valve stem 32 is provided and the form may alternately comprise an envelope enclosing a distortable and/or expansible material such as foam rubber or the like so that pressing action of the pressing plates II and I2 thereagainst will result in increasing the width of the expansible form I] but not the thickness.

Thus, a small garment positioned on the form I! and secured thereto as b buttoning or fastening the same in the usual manner is pressed as the form I? expands therein and the pressing plates II and I2 engage the front and back surfaces thereof. A larger garment merely requires the additional expansion of the form Ilwhich occurs when the pressing plates I I and I 2 engage thereagainst. The pressing plates II and I2 are heated as by introducing steam thereinto and the expansible form I'I may also be heated by the same means or an equivalent structure.

Means for moving the movable pressing plate I2 is provided and comprises a hydraulic pump 33 driven by an electric motor 34 and connected by piping 35 and 36 with the piston and cylinder assembly I4 by way of a four-way control valve 31' and a reservoir 38.

It will thus be seen that a simple and efiicient garment presser has been disclosed which may be advantageously used in the pressing of the 4 body portions of garments such as coveralls, overalls, uniform jackets and the like which meets the several objects of the invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. A garment presser comprising a framework having a tiltable beam positioned in the upper portion thereof and extending outwardly therefrom, and an expansible for-m loosely suspended therefrom and movable therealong as by tilting the said beam, a pair of spaced presser plates in said framework and engageable with the said form when the same is moved therebetween whereby a garment on the form may be pressed.

2. A garment presser comprising a vertical framework having a horizontally disposed beam mounted by a pivot pin in the upper portion thereof and extending outwardly therefrom, the said beam being movable in a vertical arc based on said pivot pin and an expansible form suspended therefrom and movable therealong as by tilting said beam, a pair of vertically disposed spaced presser plates in said framework and engageable with the said form when the same is moved therebetween, and means for moving at least one of the said pressing plates toward the other whereby a garment on the form may be pressed. I

3. A garment presser comprising a vertical framework having a horizontally disposed beam movably mounted in the upper portion of said framework by a pivot pin located inwardly from the ends of said beam, the said beam extending outwardly therefrom and movable on a vertical are based on said pivot pin, and an expansible form suspended from said beam on one side of said pivot pin and movable therealong, a pair of vertically disposed spaced presser plates in said framework and engageable with the said form when the same is moved therebetween, and means for moving at least one of the said pressing plates toward the other whereby a garment on the form may be pressed, and means for tilting the said beam to cause the said form to move into and out of the said framework.

4. The structure defined in claim 3 including 1 REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,395,466 Couch Feb. 26, 1946 2,481,399 Davis Sept. 6, 1949 2,486,486

Lauzon Nov. 1, 1949 

